Duller Than Gray
by Just Another Indonesian Writer
Summary: "Russia will soon be strong and free from imperial rule, an example to the world. But I fear that I will fail our master again." - Nikolai Orelov once said that, sometime in 1888. Little did he know that it's coming true with the emergence of these new breed of people called Contractors. Now, one young Soviet Assassin stands up to face the challenge with his 'unique' team.


_Did you know... That there are three kinds of killers?_

_Those who seek strength..._

_...Those who live for pride..._

_...And those who can read the tide of battle..._

_Those are the three. And him?_

_He was much more than that._

* * *

Running. That is all he could ever think about. Run. Nothing else matters. Just run. The freezing-cold winter wind of Russia hitting his face violently. The boy's dark hair flew backwards with the wind, and his white-red hoodie would also do the same thing. He jumped from buildings to buildings. The straight and emotionless expression that's plastering his face seems to be unwavering even with the nearly sub-zero winds that's freezing him to the bones. He didn't care, anyway.

He stopped at a corner of one of the more taller buildings. He crouched at the high point, trying to take in the view. The image of a rather large house... Or rather, facility, on the far side of the hill, burning. He stared at the far and darkened horizons of the Russian skies for a while. Some random vehicles zoomed pass the building, their headlights giving light to the rooftop, revealing his whole body entirely. Dark raven to black hair with strand of hair and slight bangs over his forehead that's parted to the center and to the right, a pair of emerald to jade green eyes, a scar that ran down from his left eye up to his forehead. His narrow and slit eyes is an obvious giveaway that his ethnicity is Asian, but his very pale, nearly albino skin that screams '_I'M RUSSIAN!_' denies the whole Asian theory.

White zip-up hoodie with some red patterns over the shoulder, the torso and the arms, with the hood part pulled down, the hood design seems to be unique, since the center part had this weird pointed design, resembling an eagle's beak. A black dress shirt lies underneath the hoodie. A pair of black trousers and finally to finish his attire, a pair of white sneakers covers his small feet. A simple set of clothes meant for a normal teenager. But there's something amiss about his hoodie.

A red star is printed on the left hand side of the arm parts of the zip-up jacket. The star that is like the ones seen from the infamous Soviet Union, before its breakdown into more countries. The insignia of the Soviet Union also shone from the left chest part of the hood, the hoodie is NOT Russian, that's for sure. It's old, it's Soviet, and it's… White. Yet strangely, the hoodie fits his body perfectly like a glove. The black dress shirt is a more typical attire for a working teenager, though.

Speaking of more stranger things, there's a heavily modified Mosen-Nagant Rifle from the World War II eras slung quietly over his right shoulder. The barrel of the ancient gun is replaced with a much longer and modern looking barrel that's often seen in Cheytac's M200 Anti-Materiel rifle. A small bayonet is attached on the lower barrel of the gun. There's also an EO-Tech-Holo sight plastered crudely to the rifle, replacing the older iron sights. A scope magnifier with a push-pull lever system is also attached to the EO-Tech.

Despite of its age, the rifle is still in its top-notch state. The barrel, although replaced, still gleams elegantly reflecting the lights from down below, the wooden parts of the rifle was still smooth, smooth as a real human's skin. The sights, although badly placed, were at least useable with the pair of small batteries on the right side. The small bayonet's also shining brightly when it reflects the light. The sharpness of the object made everyone think that it could cut through everything like butter.

A pair of deadly looking cutlass swords are sheathed at his waist with a belt connector securing the swords in their place. If you think that's not enough, he also wears these strange metal arm gauntlets, with the left gauntlet being slightly bigger than the right one. He stared at his hands for a while before he clenched his hands into fists, in an instant, a pair of two smaller blades pops out from under the gauntlet's metal sheet. He recontracts his arm muscles and the blades slide back in.

He looked up. It's time for him to move.

Just as he was about to jump, an eagle sets down beside him. This gained his attention. Eagles are usually rare. Especially when it's winter. The bird pointed its beak repeatedly towards the burning building. And it would make several gawks that almost telling or ordering him to go there. The boy exchanged glances with the animal. He simply nods and pulled his hood up, concealing his face. An insignia is now visible on the beak of the hood. An 'A' like symbol with a red star on the center.

It's the Order of the Russian Assassin's Insignia.

He jumped off the building towards the soft piles of snow, at the same time the eagle lets out a loud screech and it also flies away.

* * *

**Duller Than Gray**

_**пролог: Затемненной небо**_

**Prologue: Darkened Skies**

* * *

Too late. Two dead bodies. And the facility he saw was already burning to its full extend. He stands at the cold snow. The soft white sheets were not strong enough to support his weight, probably due to all of the weapons at his disposal. His feet were planted deep in about 40 CM of snow, or at least, deep enough to bury his legs down to the snow and up all the way to his knees. His flattened expression didn't falter even slightly even after he saw the image.

He couldn't feel a thing. Too far gone to even feel something anyway.

He jumped out of the hole in the snow to a more harder ground that's enough to support his body and weapons. He silently walked over to the dead bodies. One is a male, looks European, his state was rather... Horrifying, holes all over his body with his own red crimson blood pouring out from each individual holes. A bag filled with uneaten burgers lays there as the silent witness of the whole thing. His mouth was gaping open and his eyes were wide, although no life was present anymore in them.

The other one is a female. Also looks European, but judging from her facial features, she's from North-Western Europe. Wrinkles are seen on all of her body. Probably electrocuted to death. Her facial expression showed signs of pure shock and disbelief, must be letting out some of her own dying words before the life fades from her body completely. A 9mm pistol rests on her right hand with a fresh clip that's yet to be inserted into the gun. Taken out before she was given the chance? Plausible.

The hooded young man approaches the woman, he checks her body for any information regarding this. Because there's no way that the man was killed by only 9mm. He gave a silent prayer, asking for forgiveness for his disrespectful actions, before finally checking the pockets of the lady. A wallet. A good source for any personal info regarding this person. Typical... Some money, a credit and debit card... A citizenship card of... United Kingdom? And... An MI6's card? So... Secret service for the Queen, huh?

He knew that he couldn't get this info spread into public, and seeing that the military police of Russian is gonna be here soon, he took the quickest way around and shoved the wallet into his hoodie's pocket. He crouched beside the woman, studied her already paling face, even though her skin tone is rather dark. He could see the wrinkles already reaching for her eyes, nose, lips, ears. Her face is a mess after that electrocution. The boy closed her eyes with his fingers and gave another silent prayer.

He stood back up and gain his composure back. He stared into the already darkened skies.

_'To the city, son. Hurry.' _

He shift his gaze to the metropolitan area, not far from the forest he's currently standing. His shoulders stiffened a bit when a cold wind blew pass by him. But his unfaltering expression stands his body still and ready. He blinked once, before jumping to a nearby tree. On the branch, he crouched to get a better view. The surroundings seems to be peaceful and quite for the time being. But he already knew that it won't last for long. He closed his eyes and let the darkness to coat his body.

In an instant, he vanishes, leaving white flower petals to fall down gracefully to the ground.

* * *

Suou Pavlichenko was running. She was running away from everything. This is too much for both her body and mind. She knew well that her ordinary life will come to an end when her twin brother Shion Pavlichenko turned into one of them. **_Contractors_**. Since that day, he was wheelchair-ridden for the rest of his entire life. His emotions were all gone. His abilities made him a monster. She knew well that sooner or later, she would be separated from her brother.

But not like this.

Nika confessed his feelings to Tanya, her best friend... Then the very next day, it all happened. Her father was killed, her normal life came to a dead end. MI6 within her house suddenly took her away, but was stopped by the Russian government's Contractor, then he had to show up. The black haired masked figure. The black reaper, BK201. The very contractor that would change her inside out, forever. She didn't know what to do. Shion's missing, everything just went south.

Wrong place, wrong time, wrong person. Just... It all happened at the wrong time.

And so, she ran. A voice directed her back to her house when she had just reached the city limits. Seeing that she could only trust that strange voice, she ran back to her house through an empty street. Suspiciously... And threateningly... Too empty, perhaps. It's already late, she knew it. But she never imagined that the streets would be THIS empty. As if someone almost like told the people to scram out of the place... On purpose, for the current matter at hand.

At the same time, the young assassin positioned himself on top of a nearby building. His brilliantly colored irises snapping left and right, scanning the area for any activity. And looks like that day was his lucky day after all. Two. A man and a girl.

"Well good evening..." A gentle voice chirped out of the darkness, a figure stepped out from his hiding place. "_привет? 你好?_" He greeted in numerous languages.

A tall man with curly looking very dark brown hair, with the sideburns also reaching down to make a beard. A matching pair of dark irises. No life is present in those empty and hollow pair of narrow eyes. White dress shirt with a black tie underneath a black business coat. A tan colored overcoat was protecting him from the cold. A pair of black business trousers and black pantofle shoes. A very generic and wannabe business to friendly trying to be smile was etching his face.

"Did any of those click for you? That's all I've got." He winked at the much shorter girl. American. The accent was an obvious giveaway.

Speaking of Suou, when she heard the sudden voice that entered her ears, the Russian stopped her steps and cautiously stared at the foreign looking man.

"Wh-who are you people? What do you want from me?" Her timid voice squeaked up, following her instincts that this man is dangerous, she took a few steps backwards.

The man scratched his head whilst chuckling. "Heh, it's always the first guess. Perfect... I don't wanna have to hurt you, kid, so I'm gonna ask you, please come with me. Nicely... And quietly..." He marched forward, approaching the red haired Russian girl.

Suou had no choice but to step back.

The assassin's gaze shifts slightly to the left to see a girl backing up from the man. At first glance he thought that the hooded figure was another boy. But after hearing her voice with his heightened senses, he could tell that she's a girl. A pretty weird one... Normally, people would have a much more normal color of hair, like brown, black, or raven. But... Light crimson? Really? He also noticed that the color of her eyes are similar to his. Emerald green. Although her irises are lighter in terms of shade.

Noticing the threat, the boy wasted no time to raise his head... And disappear into nothing again.

Suou's desperate attempt to retreat was proven a failure when a pile of trash stops her dead in the tracks. She saw the foreigner fastening his approach to her. "Come on now, boy-"

A figure flies out of the shadows, he steps into the light and immediately dashes in between them. It all happened in all of a sudden, so suddenly, that both sides staggered backwards due to the surprise and shock. Suou's eyes widened immediately when she saw a red and white blur appearing out of nowhere her green eyes caught the image of a heavily armed person's back with his head concealed with the hoodie, similar to her woolen jacket that protects her from the cold.

The Assassin stretched his left arm out to the side, as if signalling her to run away, or to somewhat keep her at a safe distance from the man. Speaking of the man, he had already recovered from the sudden shock and regained his lost, laid-back composure back. A smile reforming on his lips. He straightened himself up and approaches the two again, although, this time with slightly more caution than before, that can be easily seen on his on his stiffened body.

"So... What do we have here...?" He smirked. "Who are you with, huh? MI6? Russians? KGB or what not?"

"..." Was all the reply that came back. A breathe of air.

Suou, still too confused with the situation at hand, asked up, "Wh-who are you?"

No response. What she got back from him was instead, a calm look from the side glance of his emerald eye. His eye snaps to the left and back to the center, a silent order for her to run. It took her a few seconds to process the sudden gesture from him. Finally understanding, she nods firmly to him, acknowledging the order. With one last steep breath, she took a step away from both of them, and ran away to an unknown direction, as far and fast as her feet could take her.

The assassin analyzed the man. He then quickly sums it up. Contractor.

The foreigner was watching him with slight irritation tick mark on his forehead. "Tch... Didn't think that the kid would have another guy protecting him." He scoffed, before his smile appeared again. "Listen kid... We can talk this out... Let me pass... And I'll make sure that your and his death will be quick. And if you're going to stand in my way... I'll be sure to make up the loss of that kid by enjoying myself, dancing over your dying body." A chuckle also escaped from his mouth.

The only response he got back from the Russian was the sound of two small blades sliding out of their hidden sheaths under the gauntlets' metal sheets. The procedure even made some ringing sounds, showing out how sharp and lethal the blades were. The securing pins of the connector belt releases themselves, unlocking the longer cutlasses for his disposal, and automatically, the Mosin-Nagant's safety was unlocked, priming the ancient, Russian, bolt-action rifle.

Seeing how well-equipped the boy is, the foreigner's smile turned wider.

"So... That's your answer, eh?"

The Soviet Assassin raised his head, revealing his glaring eyes.

"**_умирать. [Die.]_**"

Please cue a badass flamenco.

* * *

_'Ничто не истинно... [Nothing Is True...]_

_...Все позволено [...Everything Is Permitted]'_

* * *

_'Мы работаем в темноте... [We work in the dark...]_

_...Чтобы служить свет [...To serve the light]'_

* * *

_'We are the Assassins'_

* * *

**_End Notes:_**

I... Uh, I don't know what to say. I was in a state of a near hangover when I made this fic. But seeing that there's no Assassin's Creed and Darker Than Black crossover, I decided to make one! Huzzah! Here's Duller Than Gray! Meet the Original Character, _**Сергей Андреевич Орлов.**_ He's the distant, great great great great great great great grandchildren of a well-known Russian Assassin. I'm sure most of you will know who's this assassin is if you... You know, read.

Anyways, forgive me about this one story. And yes, if you're wondering, I'm using Google Translated Russians! And the part in the beginning, those who played Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War for the PS2 would know who said that. I just tweaked his quote a little bit. Of course, I do not own Ace Combat, Assassin's Creed and Darker Than Black. All of those brilliant series belongs to their respective owners. Now, I suppose I should just go directly to the point, eh?

I've watched some DTBs, but I haven't got that firm grasp on the series's lore yet, so I apologize if I made some mistakes on the lore and the historical events of the series. And yes, this story will be following the Gemini of the Meteor storyline. But there will be some obvious and heavy mentions from Assassin's Creed, and some light mentions from Assassin's Creed: The Fall, and The Chain comic book series. I've been wondering if this story should be just a standalone story for DTB or not... But I guess this is too heavy to miss.

I don't know if I should continue this story or not, since, as I said before, I was partly in a hangover state when I wrote this. So... Once again, sorry :s

I still hope that you enjoyed it, though...


End file.
